Cooking with Michel Bras

The dinners on Friday and Saturday night were amazing! And the anniversary party continued last night at D’Artagnan’s progressive dinner through some of New York City’s best restaurants. I cooked at my flagship restaurant with the brilliant chef, Michel Bras.
Michel had been in town all week and we worked together on the dish that we served on the third stop of the progressive dinner. Our “Pigeonnaux D’Ariane by Michel and Jean-Georges” was created with D’Artagnan’s beautiful squab. We broiled it and served it with a vinaigrette of orange blossom honey, ginger, coriander, white pepper, allspice, cinnamon, and sherry vinegar. It will be finished with a prune pit oil that Michel brought from his restaurant in France. To accompany the squab, Michel also made an orange powder with juniper berries.
We refined the dish all week, but decided on the accompanying vegetables only on Saturday morning. At the crack of dawn, we went to the Union Square Green Market to look for the freshest vegetables. We both love cooking this way—by choosing vegetables that have been just picked from local farms.
It’s been a joy to cook with Michel. And our dish was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Of course, we’ve come together for D’Artagnan, but the experience has been a celebration in and of itself.

Celebrating D'Artagnan's 25th Anniversary

D’Artagnan changed the way I cook in America. By providing me with the highest-quality foie gras, game, and wild mushrooms over the years, they’ve made it possible for me to create great dishes out of those great ingredients. So it’s an honor and pleasure for me to celebrate their 25^th anniversary with them.

Tonight and tomorrow night, we welcome guest chef Bernard Ramouneda to Mercer Kitchen. Born and raised in Gascony, the same region from which D’Artagnan’s founders come, chef Ramouneda learned traditional Southwestern French cooking from his grandmother. In 1968, he took over the family restaurant, Le Florida, and continues to showcase his regional cuisine there today.

I’m thrilled that he’s bringing his best Gascon dishes to us in New York City tonight. To start, he’s preparing a savory quail-wild mushroom salad and a creamy white bean soup with French country ham, and, of course, foie gras on toast.

On these chilly winter nights, nothing is quite as satisfying as chef Ramouneda’s cassoulet with pork shank, sausage, and duck confit. His other entrée, roasted guinea hen with mushrooms and natural essence, is a close second.

For dessert, he will treat us to an apple tart with frangipane and a prune and armagnac ice cream with lemon madeleines.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the delicious meats D’Artagnan provides than with dishes from their native Gascony. And coming up, on Sunday, we’ll be part of a progressive dinner through New York City. I’ve been working with another guest chef to create an amazing new dish. Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

The Mark Restaurant: Coming Soon

Ten years ago, I took Marja to the bar at The Mark Hotel for our second date. I’m back at the bar now—running it and the adjoining restaurant. All to impress Marja…
Kidding aside, here’s a glimpse of how I create a restaurant. We’re in the final stretch now and I’m so excited about opening another place on the upper east side of Manhattan.
The space is simply stunning, thanks to renowned designer Jacques Grange. It feels high-end and flush, with elegant touches like these columns of light.
At this stage, I can see there are too many tables for the lounge, so
I’ll have the extras moved out before opening night.

Grange completely gutted the old restaurant so that the main dining room has a skylight ceiling and the bar flows seamlessly to the raw bar, lounge, dining room, and private dining room. Sliding partitions, built out of this gorgeous textured wood, open up the space, but can also be closed for private parties. To help my diners to feel completely at home here, Grange chose chairs that are as beautiful as they are comfortable.I also chose to create a menu of comforting, everyday food to contrast the refined ambiance. I'm working with my team of chefs to reinvent and perfect the rustic, classic dishes from my childhood in France.Perhaps my favorite new dish, which will debut at the Mark, is my Croque M. It’s a cross between a croque monsieur and croque madame. The secret to my decadent version? I make a Mornay sauce with gruyere and comte, then spread it on slices of fresh pain de mie. I do a triple-decker version with Flying Pig Farm ham, comte, and gruyere, then broil it with a quail egg on top. Delicious.Of course, I’m still pushing the envelope with new creations as well. Here, I’ve made a buckwheat fettuccine (as tasty as Matsugen’s soba, but completely different in this treatment), and top it with clams, mussels, sweet shrimp, crab, and uni. With a little chile, the nuttiness of the buckwheat really comes out.For dessert, pastry chef Erik Hubert returns to his French roots too. He’ll make whole cakes, like this delicate vanilla and chocolate-citrus charlotte, and serve generous slices.
Pierre Schutz (on the left), who headed my kitchen at Vong and has been with me for decades, will be the chef de cuisine at the Mark.He already has the kitchen ready to go. We’re currently providing the room service for the hotel and putting the finishing touches on our restaurant menu.[JG in kitchen photo] I don’t yet have an exact opening date, but we’re getting close. Everything has been going smoothly, and I’m thrilled about the dishes we’ll be introducing at the Mark. I’ll report back as we get closer to our opening. Until then, I need to get back to my team and put finishing touches on the dishes and the dining room.